Have You Had Your First Menstrual Cycle? Then Why Not Start IVF Today!

Zenit reports on efforts to regulate (and de-regulate) IVF in Italy. If you think things are weird in the US, just listen to what is going on in the UK:

... girls as young as 14 are asking for financial help from the National Health Service to have IVF treatment, the [London] Telegraph reported July 4. The newspaper said that one clinic had been approached by four girls aged 14 who wanted to use IVF, as they had been unable to conceive through conventional means.

In Israel, meanwhile, women are undergoing up to 35 IVF treatments in an effort to bear children, the London-based Times reported July 19. According to the article, married and single women in Israel are allowed virtually unlimited attempts up to age 45. From ages 45 to 51, women are allowed to continue treatments with donated ova.

Israel currently provides 3,400 IVF treatments per 1 million people, compared with 300 in England. The result is that nearly 5% of babies born in Israel are test-tube babies.

The multiple fertility treatments, according to the Times, "cause enormous emotional, mental and physical strain, which is often left unaddressed by the doctors who treat their patients."

Another much-debated practice is posthumous IVF. The Independent newspaper reported Oct. 4 on Diane Scott, 44, who gave birth to a daughter 30 months after the death of her husband. Her husband, Peter, suffered from cancer, but before he underwent chemotherapy he stored sperm, which was later used by his widow.

Diane Scott is one of 30 British mothers who have given birth using sperm from dead partners, according to the Independent. Whether this kind of news influences Italian voters when they decide on IVF referendums, remains to be seen.

[London Telegraph via Zenit via MCW via James Hughes]